Best New and Surprising Island Cuisine

Today, rather than my usual ranked list for “Best of the Week,” I want to highlight one thing: the best island food you don’t know about. It’s Filipino cuisine. ISLANDS’ contributing editors traveled to the island of Luzon (see the Philippines map of their trip) for the November 2009 issue of ISLANDS magazine. That new issue is being mailed to subscribers now and goes on sale Oct. 6. If you can’t wait and want to read the feature article “Eating Up the Philippines” right now, see the Scribd viewer below. You’ll also find the best places to eat and stay in this “Plan Your Trip” travel itinerary. Get behind-the-scenes insight on the trip in an interview with writer Aaron Gulley in our latest Philippines blog posts.

See the full “Eating Up the Philippines” article

Plan Your Trip

Philippines airports
Philippine Airlines offers service direct from Los Angeles (LAX) to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), as well as service farther afield to Tuguegarao and Laoag in the north and Naga and Legaspi in Bicol.

Philippines hotels
The Makati Shangri-La, Manila is an impressive hotel known for service and a location that puts you close to many of Manila’s best restaurants. To see the beautiful Cordillera highlands, stay in Baguio at PNKY Home, essentially a mansion filled with Spanish and local antiques. Naga’s Avenue Plaza Hotel in Bicol as a boutique hotel with a great pool and lots of marble.

Philippines restaurants
The best place to see what modern Filipino cuisine is all about is very likely the Via Mare in Manila, where Glenda Rosales Barretto showcases many traditional dishes for today’s audience. Try the sinigang and puto bumbong. Follow her efforts and those of fellow chefs with the Kulinarya cookbook that presents Filipino cuisine as never before. At the Salt and Pepper Diner in Sagada try the delicacies of the Cordillera highlands. In Naga at Clementine’s Bakeshop, try sinanglay, tilapia braised in coconut cream, ginger and garlic. For some Filipino tastes you can make at home, get recipes from ISLANDS sister magazine Saveur for chicken adobo or try this database, Filipino Food Recipes.

Philippines tours and sightseeing
Go to Sagada’s Echo Canyon with a Sagada guide. There you’ll see how the dead were buried in coffins that are strung from the limestone cliffs. The recently opened BenCab Museum in Baguio highlights the artist Benedicto “BenCab” Reyes Cabrera. In Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage site, ride in a horse-drawn calesa to see a well-preserved Spanish colonial city.

Philippines official tourism website
Visit the Philippines Department of Tourism.

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